* Harlandale was the only 28-5A
team to come away with a victory this week.

* It is
rare for a team to win a football game when it loses the
total yardage battle as Harlandale did in Thursday's victory
over Devine (270-309). The Indians did so only once last
year and that was in the second round 33-28 victory over Rio
Grande City. Total yards that evening were
365-368.

* A positive turnover differential
can make the difference in games when the yardage battle
isn't going your way. Sometimes winning the turnover battle
is a matter of luck and sometimes it is good defensive
technique. Thursday's turnovers are an example of the latter
as Indian defenders aggressively attacked the ball when they
could.

* We
couldn't detect any difference in tempo that some expected
with the new 40 second play clock rule. The Indians ran 51
plays from scrimmage which is slightly below last year's
average.

* Devine
is kinda big and has a potent rushing game.

* Brack's
QB, Antonio Lopez looks to have started where he left off.
Although he suffered his first loss as a starter (4-1), he
tossed it around pretty well (18 of 30 and 60% for 347yds; 4
TD's & 2 INT's) in a 45-66 loss to Jay.

*
Highlands may have started the season with an "L," but the
Owls played tough in a 7-13 loss to the 2013 29-4A District
Champion, Floresville Tigers.

* Somerset can put points on the
board. The Bulldogs put 41 up on the board in a 41-60 loss
to Port Lavaca Calhoun. And that was an away game.

Season
tickets to go on sale (07/29/14)

Season
tickets for Harlandale and McCollum varsity football games
will be sold at the Athletics office at Memorial Stadium
starting August 18 through August 29 from 8:00AM to 4:00PM.
The season ticket package will
include all home games (the Frontier Bowl ticket is included
whether home or visitor). If you purchase the season ticket
package now, you won't have to stand in line for your
Frontier Bowl tickets in November.

This
year, Harlandale has 6 games at Memorial Stadium, so season
tickets for the Indians will cost $48. McCollum has 5 games
at Memorial Stadium; Cowboys season tickets will cost $40.

For
additional information, the Athletics office can be reached
at 977-1645.

=======================================================

The Warpath Take: New 40 Second Play Clock for
Football (07/20/14)

OLD AND
BUSTED: 1) Official whistles the play dead, 2) Officials get
the ball to the umpire (significant disparity in the amount
of time this takes from crew to crew), 3) Umpire spots
the ball, 4) Umpire signals 25 second play clock to begin.

YOUNG AND
FRESH: 1) Official whistles play dead, 2) 40 second clock
begins (with the exception of certain time stoppage
situations), 3) Officials get the ball to the umpire, 4)
Umpire spots ball.

The
general consensus is that this rule change will increase the
number of snaps we will see in a game, but we believe what
it will really do is standardize ball-spotting so that we no
longer have fast crews / slow crews officiating football
games.

In the
past, if an officiating crew was determined to keep the game
moving, the ball was already being spotted in a manner that
wouldn't allow more than 40 seconds between snaps. If, on
the other hand, a crew didn't emphasize this aspect of
officiating, the number of snaps taken during a game would
be significantly reduced. We've all been to games that just
seemed to flow better than others. This rule will help to
keep the flow of games more consistent.

The new play clock rule will take
time management out of the hands of the officials, and some
fans worry that point differentials could become humiliating
for an out-matched team. With the
previous rule, when scores got out of control, most
officiating crews would (mercifully) take more time to spot
the ball and start the 25 second clock, thus reducing
further scoring opportunities. The new rule takes this
option away from the officials.

The
responsibility for sportsmanship during a blowout then falls
completely on coaching staffs, but there certainly are
several methods to brake the scoring regardless of the
number of snaps an offense takes.